Guard troops ordered to Canadian border

SUMMARY:

More than 400 National Guard troops will be placed at 43 border crossings between the United States and Canada and U.S. military aircraft will be brought in to patrol the border, the Justice Department announced Sunday. Meanwhile, as Connecticut officials probed the source of the latest anthrax discovery, workers pumped chlorine dioxide gas into the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington in an attempt to kill all traces of the bacteria sent to Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

UPDATE:

National Guard troops will be posted at 43 U.S.-Canadian border crossings, and military aircraft will patrol the border as well, the Justice Department said. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the Guard is being deployed to relieve Border Patrol personnel overtaxed by heightened security measures since September 11. (Full story)

Daschle, D-South Dakota, said Republicans in the House and Senate will have to give some ground before a stalled economic stimulus package can reach President Bush's desk. "We have changed our proposals, we have offered many different procedural routes to accomplish what we both say we want, but at least for now their answer seems to be 'no,'" Daschle said Sunday. (Full story)

The decontamination process begun Saturday at the Hart building was the first time it had been attempted to rid such a large space of anthrax, and Environmental Protection Agency officials are hoping that if it is successful, it will be a model for future cleanup. (Full story)

Authorities believe the envelope sent to a home in Seymour, Connecticut, may have been cross-contaminated after coming in contact with one of two anthrax-laced letters sent to Senate offices after being postmarked in Trenton, New Jersey. A single spore was found on the Connecticut envelope, which turned up near a community where a 94-year-old woman died of inhalation anthrax under mysterious circumstances. (Full story)

Laura Bush: First lady of the United States, she has become more visible since the terrorist attacks, making public appearances urging parents and teachers to help reassure children that everything is being done to try to keep them safe. Click here for more

Tom Ridge: Director of the U.S. Office of Homeland Security, a new Cabinet-level position Click here for more

Richard Clarke: Head of efforts to safeguard information systems for the Office of Homeland Security Click here for more

Wayne Downing: Retired Army general tapped as deputy national security adviser Click here for more

The attacks of September 11 have sparked new debate about balancing the protection of U.S. citizens with the protection of the civil rights of those suspected of terrorism.

While the United States is proud of the freedoms and the legal rights guaranteed by the Constitution, authorities and many citizens have argued those people who seek to destroy America do not deserve such protections while they represent an ongoing threat to the country.

While those arguments continue, so do the threats against U.S. interests. Security remains high at airports, certain industries and many government facilities.

Those who lost loved ones in the September 11 attacks are a little closer to getting compensated from a special federal fund now that someone has been appointed to determine the size of individual awards.